First impressions

So it has finally begun. We are now in India proper, and I'm sitting in a refreshingly air conditioned internet cafe for our first break since we left Singapore, which was a while ago (changing time zones confuses me and I have no idea where my body clock is at right now.

To recap on the past day's events so far, we arrived in Kolkata, a stark contrast from the wealth, organisation and cleanliness of Singapore, at a time that seemed really quite late but was in reality only 7pm. Go figure. We dumped our bags in our surprisingly not disgusting hotel, and went for a walk around the block. We saw countless people sleeping on the side of the street (Mr Skeen says they are the wealthy ones, but I'm not sure how), but what really struck me was this old lady who came up to us asking for money with this sort of whining grunt sound. It was quite frightening and will stay fresh in my memory for a while, I'm sure. The other startling things were all the stray dogs and the friendly Indian people who seem to have no qualms about coming up to complete strangers and giving them their full life story ("I'm a Roman Catholic and I've just broken off a marriage" Sam M: "Hi, nice to meet you"). All of these characteristics have continued so far. We went back to Hotel Emirates, refused the gatekeeper's requests for tips, and went to sleep after a brief recap session at around 1.

We awoke after some, if not a large amount of, sleep at 5. It was straight into clothes and on our way. In our first of 4 experiences of this particular walk in one day, we walked to the Mother House, the home of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity for morning mass. I was struck by the way these sisters had given up everything they owned to devote themselves to this cause and God. After mass we went to Blue Sky cafe for one of the cheapest, most delicious breakfasts I've ever had. Each of the boys chipped in 150 rupees ($3) for pancakes, toast and drinks. We all made the acquaintance of Sam who seemed like a good guy, very happy. After that it was back to Mother House, a sanctuary of calm in the middle of one of the most hectic places on earth. I sat by the tomb and felt calm, even as the trucks whizzed past, beeping the horns crazily. We then went to New Market and I got totally ripped off for an apparently pure silver necklace which I knocked down from 1200 rupees to 450. Could have been worse but it has meant I've almost run out of money.

What I really can't understand about this crazy city is how it all works. It's impossible to put in words how crazy everything is, and in such disarray. It shouldn't work, but it does. 

Well that was long. Sorry, I'll work on my editing.

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